New Game Plus
by ParadoxVictor
Summary: Life is a game, but death is never the end, just a new begining. When you start a New Game, you lose all your progress. But what happens when you start a New Game Plus? The Sarutobi Clan gains a new member. Reincarnation fic. Male OC/ Semi-SI, Various pairings.
1. Prologue: Sarutobi Ryudo

Here's a reassuring thought: Death isn't the end. If compared to a videogame, death would be a game over screen, but instead of a retry option, at the bottom of the screen it reads: Start a New Game.

At that you think "I have to start everything from the beginning? What a fucking chore". That is especially true if you have progressed enough though the game that you can almost see the endgame coming, but you die before you get there.

Well, at least you can try again, right?

Wrong!

This isn't a new save file, numbnuts; the universe is more literal than that. When it says "New Game" it means exactly what it says. You're starting a brand new game. Your current save file is deleted and you're thrown at a brand new starting point.

Maybe it's a spin-off of your old life, meaning it has the same places and history and stuff, but more often than not it's like immersing yourself in a brand new franchise. Your Oblivion may become Skyrim, or it may become Fallout, or it might even become Cooking Mama. It's impossible to say, really.

But bottom line is, it's a brand new life with new memories.

But now there is a curious exception to that. There is a particular mechanic in gaming called "New Game Plus". A New Game Plus usually starts when a player has completed the objective of the game. The game ended, you have mastered it completely and you're ready to do it again, only this time in higher difficulty.

Doesn't sound really good to start from scratch at a much higher difficulty, right? That's where the peculiarity of New Game Plus comes along. You may be starting again, but this time you have everything you gained in your previous playthrough with you. Your levels, your items, your skills… Everything!

Now let's talk about death again. That little Game Over screen only comes to you when you died before finishing the game, right? Well death is the same thing. You get a game over only if you die before realizing the objective you have imposed for yourself. If you eventually achieve it after death, there might be some leeway dealing with you, but that's mostly the case.

Now if you die after you achieved the endgame, or you achieved it the moment you died, that doesn't mean game over. It simply means you have finished the game.

Congratulations! Would you like to start a New Game Plus…

…

What does New Game Plus mean when it's related to the game of life? Death is certain, so the only way to finish it is by dying. But if you had the option of starting a New Game Plus, does that mean being thrown into your old life with all the knowledge about it?

Err… not quite. A New Game is always a new game when talking about the game of life.

So a New Game Plus would imply that you'd be thrown into your new life, reincarnated, if you will, but retaining all the knowledge and experience of your previous one.

Not many souls go through the process of achieving New Game Plus, but it happens with a certain consistency.

Roberto da Silva was a seventeen year old boy with a strange objective to his life. Despite living a relatively normal life with not many difficult trials or hardships, Rob had a deep sense of empathy for the people around him. Well, it was more of a gut feeling most of the time, and sometimes it failed spetacularly, but he trusted it more often than not. He had a sharp eye on him too, so he would always observe people to try to guess what was wrong.

This made him have a sense of gratification in helping people out in his own way. His methods were rather rash and blunt most of the times despite being successful, but he had enough tact to be subtle when he wanted to.

Roberto liked sports. Practiced football (soccer for you Americans) his entire life and was pretty good at it. His quick thinking and ability to strategize under pressure made him a great playmaker.

He also enjoyed fighting very much, be it inside or outside of a kickboxing ring. His straightforward and overly honest personality sometimes generated too much attrition between him and some people. But most of his fights ended on a positive note, after all the steam was blown away. Roberto didn't really have enemies.

That is if you didn't consider all the enemies he defeated every night when he played his favorite videogames at night. From Smash Bros to Dark Souls, he loved to play all types of games.

He did well enough at school, had a handfull of friends there. He loved his family, and he could say that he was loved as well.

But because of the way he was, Rob had only one big dream if he was honest with himself. He had always wanted to be responsible for saving someone's life… even at the cost of his own.

It was a simple thing really. Roberto was on his way to the bookstore, ready to buy his weekly supply of books, comic books and/or manga.

If there was something he loved as much as making his mark in other people's lives, it was reading materials. One of them in specific was Naruto, the one he was about to go buy. It was the final volume. Things were getting really intense. Just when they saved the fucking world, Sasuke goes and fucks everything up by being a broody pseudo-revolutionary with a stick shoved up so high up his ass, you can see it come out of his mouth.

Rob didn't really hate Sasuke. He talked shit about him just as much as any other fan, but he didn't hate him. He saw where he was coming from, but that didn't make him right. No well-intentioned extremist is ever right.

But yeah, it was a huge climax, the end of one of something that defined a generation. He was fucking excited as fuck to buy that fucking volume. He didn't read the internet scans and avoided spoilers like the plague just so he could take it all in today.

And, of course, just as he's about to cross the street, he sees it.

The prospect of it was so cliché that it almost hurt, but it was happening right in front of him.

From a nearby park comes a bouncy ball, headed right towards the middle of the street. And as the universe was insistent on, right after it followed a little boy toddling away after it.

Cue car in high velocity coming right at the boy.

Jason didn't even think.

At one moment he was singing a little song he made up about Naruto to himself, and the other he was about to be hit by a car, the child that had been in his place safely in front of him, despite the scraped knee.

The fucker that ran him over didn't even try to break.

For an instant the pain was unbearable. Rob had never broken a single bone in his body until that very moment but from what he felt, he could safely assume that he had broken a lot of them.

The last thing he heard was a scream of surprise and terror and the sound of a car racing away. He could he the child looking at him and he risked a smile and a thumb up before he blacked out. That kid would remember that for the rest of his life and proceed to try to be as cool as Roberto was on that last moment of his.

Or at least Rob hoped that that would be what would happen, and not years of therapy for seeing a man die in front of him with a crooked smile and a broken thumb up.

That was his last thought before he blacked out.

He felt like he was floating on water and everything was dark. He tried to breathe but found himself unable to. He started to panic only to discover that he didn't need to breathe.

It was a strange sensation. He didn't breathe, but he didn't feel the need to do so. Kind of like when you take a deep breath of pure oxygen and hold your breath with it when you're scuba diving.

He also felt warm. Cozy. As if he was on the most comfortable place in the world.

Despite how boring it all was, he didn't actually feel bored. Rob was waiting for something.

He didn't know what it was, but he knew it was going to come eventually. And so he waited, not really minding it since the place felt so nice.

The time that passed could have been ten minutes or ten years for all he knew, but eventually it all came to an end.

His comfortable peace was eventually disturbed by a feeling of being compressed.

Roberto never knew where he was or what surrounded him, but this sudden feeling made him very claustrophobic for that one instant.

The walls around his kept closing on him rhythmically, and he could feel himself being pushed away to someplace.

Roberto would've liked to say he felt something. He would have liked to say it hurt or was uncomfortable, but he was strangely numb to everything.

He knew that he had died. He was sure that a simple coma wouldn't be this comfortable, but he had not expected anything after that. He was convinced that the dark, warm place he was in was the afterlife. It wasn't exciting or anything, but it was nice enough for him to spend eternity in there.

He didn't want to leave. Where was he going anyway? The thought of leaving this place behind scared him…

Push… Push… Push… And finally he felt the last of the contractions.

Darkness was replaced by a blinding light and his senses were assaulted by a cold he could swear never having felt before.

And so he screamed.

I he hadn't been panicking he would've noticed this was the first time that he breathed through his lungs in an eternity.

He could hear voices around him. He understood nothing, but they sounded extremely happy.

His vision wasn't helping either, it was all very blurry. He could see people around him, but the all seemed very big and nothing more than huge blobs.

He screamed some more after he noticed these giants were manhandling him, and he squirmed when he was inserted into what appeared to be water.

For some reason he was being washed. The water wasn't cold, but it wasn't as warm as the place he had been before.

And every time he tried to move, his body didn't respond the way he wanted it to. He felt small, seriously small. Like a…

It was then that it hit him. What comes after death? What is one of the hypotheses about the afterlife? Yeah, it all made sense now.

He was handed to a new person who was now holding him. Different from the other arms, these felt safe and comfortable. A soothing voice told sweet words to him that he couldn't understand, but he suddenly felt as warm and safe as he had been before.

He guessed that the embrace of a mother's arms are as soothing as being held inside her womb.

Roberto, who guessed he wasn't Roberto anymore, felt himself smiling for the first time in his new life. That was fast, huh?

But yeah, he smiled happily in his mother's arms as she held him close to her, and he knew that she smiled down at him happily.

Then he heard another voice. It sounded old and powerful, but at the same time warm and caring. Just from that he could tell that the man was a leader, and he felt drawn to him. As if by reflex he reached out with a tiny hand only to grab a wrinkly finger. He smiled again when he heard the chuckle coming from the man.

"See that, Minato-kun; it seems that Ryudo-chan already likes me" Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke jovially to his successor "Now that you've seen the birth of my grandson, you think you're ready for when Kushina's time comes?"

"Maa, Sandaime-sama, that's hard to tell" Namikaze Minato answered honestly, scratching the back of his head "I'm still a bit nervous about becoming a father. Too much responsibility in my hands" he finished with a laugh.

"And being Hokage isn't? Seriously, Minato-kun, your priorities seem a bit shrewd right now." Hiruzen accused playfully and the two men the bore the title of Hokage shared a laugh over that.

"But it is truly a shame that your son couldn't be here to see his own son's birth. I should've considered that before I sent him on that A-rank mission." Minato admitted regretfully.

"It's true. When Nishi finds out, the only thing that will stop him from hunting you down is the fact that you're the Hokage. Not even the Hiraishin would stop him from getting your head" the Sandaime joked.

"Well, what is done is done" inferred Biwako holding her now asleep grandson in her arms, the boy having fallen asleep after being breastfed while the two Kages conversed "Nishi should be back in a couple of days anyway, and it's not like we could predict when Keiko-chan would enter in labor" she sighed, but then smiled again, looking at her grandson "But what a nice thing it is, to be a grandmother. I never thought I'd live long enough to have grandchildren"

Hiruzen embraced his wife and looked down fondly at the small Ryudo "You and me both, dear" he said as an intense feeling of happiness bubbled inside of him. Looking at the baby's innocent face Hiruzen felt his old age lift from his shoulders, but also felt paradoxically old.

But now that he wasn't Hokage anymore, he knew he would have more time to spend with his precious family. And with the Yondaime's son coming soon, young Ryudo would soon have a friend to play with. Hiruzen knew that these types of bonds are one of the most important ones that could be formed in the life of a Konoha shinobi.

As Sarutobi Ryudo slept, he didn't have a clue about the situation he was in. It seemed that in this New Game Plus, fate had given him a role far more important that he could ever have asked for.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> _Yup, there we go. I guess this is a nice prologue. I know the influx of OCs is giant these past days, but can you honestly tell me the last time you read a Naruto story with a Male OC? What about a _good_ male OC? Well that's what I'm aiming at._

_Man, the Sarutobi Clan rarely gets any love, and I don't know why. They're fucking badasses. Even Konohamaru has the potential to become an A-class BAMF. Ryudo will be his older brother by the way. _

_I named Asuma's brother Nishi because Asuma means East and Nishi means west. Hella creative, huh? (Actually, Azuma means east, but it's the thought that counts)  
><em>

_Pairings will include: NaruHina, SasuSaku, KakaAnko, AsuKure, among others. No idea who I'll pair my OC with, so leave suggestions on the reviews.  
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	2. Chapter 1: Demons, Uncles, and Granddads

Sarutobi Ryudo's first experience with chakra was an interesting one.

Being only a babe, all of his senses were incredibly bad. He couldn't hear right, he couldn't talk, he couldn't really see and he couldn't even control his motor functions correctly. That was painfully clear whenever he soiled himself.

But there was one thing he felt like he had a huge amount of control over.

He didn't know what it was, but he knew it wasn't there when he had been alive previously. It was weird, but if felt liquid. As if it were a secondary blood system in his body, he could feel something coursing through it. And whenever they reached certain points in his body he could feel an itch that he'd grown familiar to, as the energy seemed to force its way into some points, making them expand.

After a lot of experimentation, Ryudo noticed that he could control the flow of the liquid-like energy, making them pass through those points more frequently and at a faster pace.

It was one of the little things that could distract him from the total boredom that being a baby entitled.

Sarutobi Ryudo's second experience with chakra had been terrifying.

Around three months after he was born, Ryudo was woken from a peaceful night of sleep by a sensation that paralyzed him completely.

The malice in the air was palpable. Ryudo wanted to scream, to cry, to thrash around, but he couldn't even make himself breathe. The sheer evil and hatred in the air was suffocating. It felt so powerful, so _wrong_ that it made Ryudo's newly discovered sense go haywire.

He had never noticed until that moment that he could notice the energy of the things around him, but now that he had, the sheer amount of it coming from one specific direction was overwhelming.

He could hear sounds coming from outside: screaming, destruction, total chaos.

He felt himself being picked up by the arms of a stranger and he was taken away from his room at extremely high speeds if the wind he felt meant something.

The arms that were holding him belonged to neither his mother nor his father, but they seemed somewhat reminiscent of the latter. They were smaller and not as strong, but it had a sense of familiarity that made him feel safe. The familiar scent of smoke and tobacco also calmed him down, and he felt like he could finally breathe again.

Later in life he would chastise his uncle for already smoking when he was just fifteen. That was a Sarutobi habit that he'd avoid like crazy once he learns of his heritage.

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From where Asuma was standing, he could tell that everything was going to hell. The Kyuubi's attack on the village came literally out of nowhere. No one was expecting something like that in a million years.

But it was happening. It was happening right in front of his eyes and there was nothing he could do.

His father had gone to help Minato-sama deal with the situation and his older brother had gone with him. His sister-in-law had been taken away by the clansmen to a safe place as soon as the attack had begun, unintentionally making her leave her only son behind.

That left the task of recovering the child to Asuma. He had never really had any contact with his nephew until now. Despite the situation he was in, he had to admit that he was quite the cute kid. Asuma found himself wishing that he held him in less dangerous circumstances.

Asuma found himself lost. The way to the Sarutobi safe house had been completely blocked away by rubble, the destruction around him making it impossible for him to navigate around the village.

Asuma needed to get the kid to a safe place and quick. Seeing no other alternatives, Asuma rushed to the forest in the outskirts of town where he found Kakashi, Gai and Kurenai, as well as almost every other shinobi in his age group huddled together.

"Hey guys, what are you doing all the way over here?" Asuma asked, landing in front of the large group. He thought it was very strange to see all of them gathered like that.

"We're stuck" Kakashi answered simply "The older shinobi trapped us here so we wouldn't interfere with the battle against the Kyuubi" his tone was morose, but there was a tension in the air "It's their way to guarantee that we pass on the Will of Fire"

"I still can't believe my father did this to us. We can still help!" Kurenai was still a bit angry, but her father's words did have an impact on her. Still, she was stubborn "Asuma, dispel that seal" she said pointing to the paper stuck to the tree "We have to help them!"

Asuma hesitated for a second, and that was all Kakashi needed to interrupt him.

"Let's not be hasty here, guys. If the older generation has us here it's for a good reason." Kakashi said in his usual tone directing himself at Kurenai "What your father said was true. We are the future of this village and we have the duty to carry on the Will of Fire" he then turned to Asuma "That is your nephew, right? He is the legacy that your brother is passing on to the village, and so it's your duty to protect him. Don't be hasty. We should trust sensei and your father to handle the situation."

At that Kurenai quietened down, still looking conflicted and worrying about her father. Asuma just nodded reluctantly, but in agreement to Kakashi.

"Alright, I won't even get close to that tag" he sat down in front of the barrier cradling Ryudo and trying to calm him down from all the excitement the baby has been through "I'll stay here with you guys. Dad and the Yondaime will take care of things" he tried sounding hopeful, but the worry was evident in his voice.

The following moments were filled with silence as Asuma tried to focus on his nephew. For his sake, Asuma hoped to be right.

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Unbeknownst to him, Ryudo formed quite a bond with his uncle during the time of the Nine Tailed Fox's attack. In the following weeks Asuma would be constantly paying his nephew visits whenever he wasn't helping rebuild the village.

After the demonic fox had been sealed inside the infant Naruto, the months proceeded as if nothing had happened.

Or at least the villagers wanted to pretend that nothing had happened. The grief and anger they felt from their losses was still much great. And despite the Yondaime's final request, the villagers were already directing their anger at the baby jinchuriki.

Four months after the attack, Ryudo was already able to see clearly, and was also starting to develop his vocal chords.

Picking up on the spoken language was far easier that he had expected. Having the brain connections of a baby were truly a blessing for his almost adult-like mind.

But being able to see and being able to understand the language meant that Ryudo was given his first clues about the place that had been reincarnated in.

He didn't recognize his father, as he had never seen his face before until now, neither did he recognize Asuma, him being much younger that Ryudo was used to, and so lacking his characteristic facial hair. But he did recognize what they were wearing.

It was hard not to recognize that signature flak jacket or that characteristic forehead protector.

It had been his first clue, but he had brushed it off as a fluke, a coincidence. Even the strange energy he felt inside him wasn't going to convince him that…

The second clue was harder to ignore. His grandfather had come to visit him again after he was already ten months old.

Hiruzen had been overworked after the death of his successor, and so he had had almost no time to see his grandchild. Being reinstated as the Hokage was not in his plans at all. If he could he would've dedicated all of his time to his family, and spend most of his moments with his precious grandson, but it seemed that fate would have none of that.

It seemed like almost an eternity since the last time the Sandaime had seen Ryudo. He had surely grown up a lot.

Ryudo felt a familiar presence in his room, one he hadn't felt since the day of his birth, but he could tell that is was the man whose finger he had held at the time.

Ryudo felt himself be picked up from his crib, and his nose was assaulted with a smell he had come to associate with the men of his family. His grandfather smelt of smoke and tobacco, but it wasn't unpleasant at all.

"Wake up, Ryu-chan. Your ojii-san has come to see you" said the familiar voice.

Ryudo opened his eyes at the prompting of the man. So that kind and wise voice belonged to his grandfather? For him that was good news!

With a happy gurgle, Ryudo opened his eyes and took in the features of the man that was looking down lovingly at him.

His breath hitched and his eyes widened in shock. Ryudo raised a tiny hand and pulled on the kage's beard just to check if he was real.

He was.

Staring down at him, with a now worried and confused expression on his face, was a man that Ryudo held a great amount of respect for.

He looked younger than he remembered, by about ten years more or less, but it was a face he knew very well. Who could forget Sarutobi Hiruzen: the Shinobi no Kami? Arguably the strongest Kage that had ever lived!

This man was his grandfather? How the hell was that possible?

No, he was probably hallucinating or something. It was probably the baby food. Yeah, it was definitely the baby food.

Trying to relax his features again, Ryudo giggled happily at the man's expression. He had to admit that the way he was slightly panicking was funny. It wasn't every day that you saw the Sandaime Hokage with an expression like that.

"_No" _Ryudo chastised himself _"It isn't him. There's no way it _could_ be him. Gramps just looks like the most badass fictional old man in existence, that's all"_ he tried to convince himself.

Hiruzen shared the laugh with his grandson, instantly stopping his small panic.

"What was that, Ryu-chan? Did this old man's ugly mug scare you that much? And now you're laughing at my expense, aren't you?" he asked playfully, and his grandchild simply nodded back with a gummy smile.

"Well, aren't you a smart little guy?" he continued with false irritation "If you were a little older, I'd punish you. But since you're so young and cute, I'll leave you off the hook" he joked and started walking out of the room "Now come on, Ryu-chan. Come along with your jii-chan for a little walk"

Holding nothing against that idea, Ryudo gave a small squeal of delight and let himself be taken by his grandfather as they walked around the village.

It was all like a small tour. Great part of the village had already been restored, and so Hiruzen had to go around checking if everything was ok. Since it wasn't really a daunting task, and since it felt like an eternity since he last saw Ryudo, he saw no problem in bringing the child along with him.

The thought of children made him think about Minato's son. It had already been eight months since the attack, and some people were still thinking that killing Naruto would be the best course of action.

He would have none of that. That child was under his protection and no one would ever harm him under his watch.

But deep down he knew that he couldn't be there all the time, and while he was sure that he could stop anyone from actually killing the boy, he worried about the hardships that the boy would have to pass through.

Looking down at Ryudo his grim expression changed into a hopeful one. Perhaps Naruto wouldn't have to be as alone as Hiruzen had feared.

Ryudo saw the changing expressions of his granddad and knew that he was in deep thought. He'd give anything to know what a man that wore a face like Hiruzen's would be thinking, but there was nothing he could do to find out.

Once they reached a determined point in their little tour Hiruzen lifted up his grandchild and pointed in a specific direction "You see that, Ryu-chan? That's the Hokage Monument. Right there are the faces of all the leaders that ever ruled over our Village Hidden in the Leaves. That one right there is your jii-chan" he declared proudly "Pretty cool for an old man, huh?"

Ryudo didn't respond and simply stared in awe. The third and final clue hit him like a truck. There was no way around it and no simple way to put it. Ryudo had been born in the Elemental Nations.

_"__Well, fuck me sideways with a lawnmower"._

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**Author's****Notes:** _So here's the first chapter after the prologue. What did you think? I wanted to establish Ryudo's relationship with his family before we started. And as you can see, Naruto and him are going to hit off pretty soon._

_I'm pretty inspired, so next chapter may come faster than you think._


	3. Chapter 2: Friend

The time that took for Ryudo to come to terms with everything he learned about his situation was relatively short.

After his grandfather, the _goddamn_ Sandaime Hokage, brought him back home, the youngest Sarutobi had a lot of time to contemplate about his new life, and what it meant.

First thing that he came to terms with was the fact that he was born in the Elemental Nations, more specifically in Konohagakure in the Land of Fire. That meant that the liquid-like energy, the new limb that he felt inside himself was most likely chakra.

Second thing that he came to terms with was that he was part of the Sarutobi clan. Little was known about this clan as the manga didn't have its focus on them at any specific moment, but he knew that they were a big and important clan that had an affinity for fire ninjustsu. The monkey summoning contract also belonged to the Sarutobi clan, and they also hold close ties with the Akimichi, the Yamanaka, and the Nara, and held important ones with the Senju as well.

Being born into the Sarutobi clan wasn't actually that much of a big deal. They were big and important, but not really that prominent. Ryudo would've snapped out of his contemplation much sooner if it simply ended there.

No, what really got to him was the fact that he was a direct descendent of the God of Shinobi. He was the grandchild of the legendary Sandaime Hokage, the most powerful Kage that currently holds the title.

A lot of his friends in his past life didn't see what he thought was so special about Sarutobi Hiruzen. "He's so boring" they would say "He has no cool kekkei genkai, and he's so old".

They didn't seem to realize that despite being old and having no kekkei genkai, Hiruzen was _still_ considered the most powerful Kage. What made him the God of Shinobi was the fact that despite being as ordinary as a shinobi could be, he still mastered all five basic nature releases and never lost a single fight.

The goddamn Sannin were _his_ motherfucking apprentices, and each of them had a power equal to a Kage. Orochimaru, that slimy traitor, admitted that had Hiruzen been ten years younger during their fight, Orochimaru wouldn't even stand a chance.

So basically, being his grandson was a big fucking deal. And it took him a couple of weeks for Ryudo to digest that fact.

But despite all those revelations, Ryudo's baby life didn't change much. He kept sleeping and eating and practicing chakra control.

Sometimes his mother would take him on a stroll around the village and he'd look around in wonder. It was one thing to see the place printed on paper. It was a whole new experience to see it with his eyes. The place was much bigger than he imagined despite still struggling with what he guessed was Obito's attack on the village using Kurama.

The malevolent chakra he felt couldn't be anything else.

Ryudo also concluded that he was a sensor. He didn't know it at first, but he could definitely feel the presences of people around him and tell them apart from each other.

His ability wasn't that great, and his range didn't surpass ten meters, but it there.

His uncle, who he concluded was Asuma, kept visiting him around once every two weeks. Ryudo really appreciated that Asu-nii was that interested in his wellbeing. Bonds formed during demonic fox attacks seemed to be strong.

But being a baby didn't just consist of taking naps and being spoiled by your mom and relatives. Being a baby was rough!

Worse part of it was the teething. Oh how that shit was unpleasant. Ryudo's gums always felt like they were on fire. They itched every second he wasn't really biting down on something.

Then there was learning how to walk. He thought that already knowing how to do it in his previous life would make it easier. It actually made it harder.

You see, walking when you're already the size of an adult is completely different from walking as a one-year-old toddler. Your center of gravity is all over the place, and your head is too big for your body, so the way that you had to balance yourself on your two feet was completely different.

But alas, Ryudo conquered the walkies. Hooray!

But then came the talkies. And the potty training.

Learning how to talk was actually easier than expected, though Ryudo couldn't yet come to trust his tongue as it kept failing him whenever he tried to speak clearly. It seemed that baby pronunciation was something unavoidable when you're a year and a half old.

Potty training was humiliating. Relearning how to control your bowels was not something Ryudo wished upon his worst enemy. One second you're standing there, minding your own business and the other your pants were full of shit. Oops.

But by the time Ryudo reached three years of age he had finally come to achieve full control of his body. And with great powers… came the potential of finally being able to have fun again.

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The Hokage hat seemed unaltered from where Hiruzen had left it on the previous night. He always left it in a small pedestal inside his office before he went to bed, always late thanks to all the paperwork he has to write. Forget the ninja from other nations, the Hokage's greatest enemy is, and will always be, paperwork.

And as consequence from staying up until late, Hiruzen was always tired in the morning and not nearly as sharp as he usually is. Being an experienced shinobi, he became alert pretty quickly, but that was always after he started working.

As consequence, Hiruzen didn't notice there was something different with his hat when he picked it up, and so when he tried to put it on, a bucket's worth of water fell from its inside.

Now fully woken up, the Sandaime could clearly hear the muffled laughter coming from under his table.

Hiruzen sighed, drying himself with an E-Ranked fire jutsu. "Very funny, Ryudo" he commented sarcastically and giving the desk a stern look "You can stop hiding now"

"I got you real good, jii-chan" was the reply that came from under the desk. Ryudo's unmistakable mop of brown hair popped up from under the desk with a huge grin plastered on his face.

Ryudo looked a lot like Hiruzen when he was a kid. His mop of brown hair spiked in all directions despite actually being soft to the touch. His olive skin tanned easily from playing in the sun so much and his eyes two birthmarks just below them.

Despite that, his face was more round than his grandfather's, and not just because of the baby fat. His eyes were less sharp and his features were softer, but there was no doubt about Ryudo and Hiruzen being related.

"You should've seen your face, jii-chan. You almost jumped!" Ryudo continued, jumping on the table as if to demonstrate and then laughed again.

"Yes, yes, you got me good, Ryu-chan" the Sandaime conceded taking his seat just to have his grandson plop on his lap "Did you seal the water inside the hat by yourself?" he asked feeling a bit impressed. Ryudo's level of chakra control was impressive for his age and he could already perform the Henge, but even a simple storage seal needed a bit more expertise to perform.

"Nah" the young boy dismissed that with a wave "I asked Asu-nii to do it for me. He seemed happy to help!" he looked up at his grandfather with another huge grin.

Despite really being a bit of a genius for his age, Ryudo was awful at sealing. He had the potential for it already, but his calligraphy sucked ass. And even if he could, he'd still go ask his uncle to do it for him, if only to let him on a bit of the fun. Asuma was always glad to help his cute nephew get a rise out of the former's father.

"I should've guessed that" the Sandaime grumbled, but Ryudo could tell that he wasn't really mad. The pat he received on his head confirmed that. "But this is the last time you'll catch me off guard" Hiruzen continued playfully "You'll have to try harder next time"

Ryudo snickered evilly, making his grandfather actually a bit worried "Don't worry, old man" the young boy taunted, jumping out Hiruzen's lap and onto his table and then pointing a finger to the sky "The next level might be harder, but the reward will be worth it!"

Hiruzen sweat-dropped at his grandson's exaggerated display, but he quickly regained his bearings when Ryudo stopped.

"Anyway, ojii-sama" Ryudo continued, this time more respectfully, a clear signal that he was about to ask something "Can I go play on the playground today? Everyone else is busy for today, but I'm already old enough to go out by myself" he added the last part a bit haughtily, but it was more out of frustration over the fact that his jii-san still insisted on having him go with his father, his mother, or his uncle, and none of them have been available for the past months.

His father and uncle were almost always out on missions or training, and his mother has been busier lately since she learned that she was expecting another baby. They still didn't know the gender, but Ryudo knew for a fact that it was Konohamaru. The little brat was due around late December or so.

The Sandaime seemed to consider his grandson's requests for a while before shrugging, something that surprised Ryudo so much that he almost lost balance. That seemed to amuse Hiruzen quite a bit.

"It's fine that you go, Ryu-chan. The village is the safest place for you to be, after all" Hiruzen smiled "I was wondering how long it would take for you to ask me"

"So I can go?" Ryudo asked and his granddad nodded. Jumping out of the table in excitement, Ryudo hurried out of the room while shouting back "See you later, old man"

Hiruzen only shook his head with a smile on his face. His grandson would get along very well with Naruto-kun. Perhaps he should introduce them to each other next time he takes Naruto to eat at Ichiraku.

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Finally, Ryudo was free. Roaming around the village by himself was a dream made true. Basically all the places he could go since he learnt how to walk were only inside the Sarutobi compound. Other than that he had always gone outside accompanied by an adult, and rarely got to play with other kids, so now was his time to shine.

"Go away! My mom says that you're a bad person! I don't want to play with you!"

Arriving at the big playground where most of the kids his age hung out, Ryudo was met with a peculiar, and anger inducing scene.

"Hey guys, I'm not bad! I just want to give this back." A young boy with a mop of messy blond hair picked up a ball and offered it to the group of children with a tentative smile "See!"

"I don't want it anymore" the bigger kid said slapping away the ball from the blonde's hands "You probably cursed it or something. No one wants you here. Go away" he then pushed the blond kid who fell on his behind with a whine.

"Hey! Why did you do that!? I just wanted to help!" the kid yelled back, but there was bit of hurt in his voice. The only response he got was a kick off sand to his face and the other kids laughing at him while he tried to get the sand out of his eyes.

All the nearby adults promptly ignored the bigger kids picking on the smaller blond. Some of them watched the scene with malicious amusement at the child's suffering, while others sneered as if thinking he deserved worse. Most of them, however, simply refused to acknowledge that the kid was being bullied. For all they were concerned, he wasn't even there.

It took way less than three guesses for Ryudo to figure out that the blond kid was no other than Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyuubi jinchuriki and the village's pariah for the simple reason that all those stupid civilians, and even some shinobi, couldn't tell the difference between a kunai and the scroll in which it is stored.

The kid who is the legacy from the village's greatest hero, and who would eventually become an even greater hero, was being ostracized because of something he held no fault over. Hell, not even Kurama was to blame for the attack. But fear and hate are often misguided, and so Naruto suffered because of that.

A happy and innocent boy who wanted nothing more than to be acknowledged and who has a heart so good and pure that managed to befriend a demon that was the embodiment of hate.

And he was treated like garbage by the people who he strives to protect.

Ryudo blacked out for a second. His fists were suddenly aching and he was breathing harder than usual. A quick look around has him see two kids holding their broken noses, and the bigger kid lying flat on his back right in front of him with a black eye and a broken nose as well.

Everyone is looking at Ryudo in shock. He simply grimaces before pointing an accusing finger at the older kids "You are all cowards!" he yelled "Each and every one of you is big, fat coward. You say this kid is evil?" he continues, pointing at Naruto "All I see is someone younger than you earnestly trying to make friends by being nice. The only evil people I see here are you, your stinking parents, and the rest of these useless adults who are just standing around and ignoring a kid in peril. You all disgust me!"

He finished his rant pointing at the adults who flinched at his words but still refused to acknowledge the situation.

After he was done, all of the other kids ran away shouting back vague threats about their parents or calling him and Naruto names.

The nearby adults continued on their marry way as well, some muttering curses about the 'demon brat' and making Ryudo glare at them.

After they were all gone, Ryudo turned to look at Naruto with a smile and extending him a hand to help him up. "Are you ok?"

Naruto was without reaction for a couple of seconds before shaking himself out of his stupor "Yeah, I'm fine, dattebayo" he croaked out, hesitantly reaching out with his hand.

Ryudo just rolled his eyes at his hesitation and grabbed Naruto's hand firmly, pulling him up to his feet after that. "There you go" Ryudo said with a soft chuckle as Naruto dusted himself off "You look good as new. Why were those kids picking on you?" He asked despite knowing the answer.

Naruto sniffed and rubbed his arms "I have no idea, dattebayo. The adults just keep glaring at me and calling me a demon and the kids just don't want to play with me and call me evil. Just what the heck did I do!?" The frustration in the boy's voice was palpable, which was more than expected considering his situation.

Ryudo's only reply was to smile and pat Naruto on the head "You did nothing wrong, man. These kids are just mean, and their parents are huge morons. You don't have to hear what they say"

"Yeah!" Naruto bounced back with an amazing recovery speed "I'll show those morons! Mark my words! Uzumaki Naruto is gonna be Hokage one day, and then they'll have to respect me. They'll acknowledge me for sure-ttebayo!" He said energetically pointing a finger skyward.

"I believe you already" was Ryudo's honest reply "I bet you'll be a better Hokage than my jii-chan"

Naruto paused at that, looking at the boy who just saved him and then acknowledged him and his dream. The boy believed in him? For real! Naruto's eyes were wide with shock, and then filled up with excitement. His smile was wider than ever before. Maybe this boy would be his first friend!

Before he could ask him, another thing came to his mind. Something about his previous comment "Wait, did you just say that your jii-chan was a Hokage?"

"Yep" Ryudo replied curtly "He currently is the Hokage" He smiled wide "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Sarutobi Ryudo, the Sandaime's grandson. Do you want to be my friend, Naruto-kun?" He said extending a hand to his new friend.

In pure disbelief at what he had just heard, Naruto simply nodded his head dumbly as Ryudo grasped his hand in a firm handshake.

They shared a smile for a couple of moments and then went off to play together.

And suddenly Naruto wasn't alone anymore. And he'll never have to be alone again.

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**Author's****note:**_And here it is, chapter 2. I'm dishing these out_ _as they keep comming. The amount of inspiration I have for this is fucking _huge!

_And yeah, Ryudo is Naruto's first friend ever. These two are going to be closer than brothers in a way. Sasuke is going to be part of this brotherhood too, but that comes later. In a way I plan to make the Konoha 12 a close knit group of friends with Ryudo as the tailor. I just hope to do it right._

_I still have no idea who to pair him up with, though Karin, Tayuya or Kurotsuchi and maybe Kin or Fu came to me as possibilities. Maybe a Konoha girl would be better? I have no clue. If you have any suggestions, or if you prefer a pairing, don't hesitate to tell and explain your point of view._

_I'll probably update this week still. Untill then!_


	4. Chapter 3: Hyuga

Just a couple of weeks after Naruto had become his friend, Ryudo found himself acquiring a new hobby. It was just a small little thing called 'making the lives of abusive shopkeepers who are abusive towards Naruto into a living hell."

Not the most honorable hobby to have, admittedly, but it by far one of the most satisfactory ones in the world.

Since Ryudo was technically a twenty year-old in a three year-old body, he had quite the protective streak over Naruto, seeing him as the little brother that he never had. If you didn't count Konohamaru, that is, but he wasn't even born yet.

And so Ryudo would purposely sabotage the supply line of a particularly mean or overcharging shopkeeper, or give them bad publicity by using a _Henge_ while exiting the store so it would look like the shop keeper beat him up. He'd even fake a cry. Usually that made every mother in the region start a rumor mill and that place would rarely get customers anymore.

He'd start arguments with, pick fights with and sometimes even vandalize the property (while making sure to never get caught. He couldn't sully his own image like that as it would reflect badly on the Sarutobi) of people that went out of their way to make Naruto miserable.

Another thing he got into was prank collaborations between him and Naruto. The Uzumaki boy was a pranking genius! Together they were even able to plant paint bombs in the Anbu HQ. They really had a field day with that one, though his grandfather was not amused with neither of them.

Speaking of which, old man Hiruzen took them out for dinner at Ichiraku's almost every Sunday. After Ryudo asked if there wasn't a _bushin_ technique that could help the Sandaime with all the paperwork, Hiruzen was hit with the idea of using the _Kage bushin_ to divide his burden with himself.

He cursed never having thought about that before, and rewarded his grandson by indulging him and his best friend on the weekends. He would always leave a _bushin_ behind too, so his schedule never fell behind.

The Sandaime was also very happy that Naruto was able to find a friend. He was even happier that the friend was Ryudo. Loneliness was something Naruto suffered from since he was born. Being an orphan was hard, but being ignored by his supposed caretakers and shunned by his peers made it harder. It seemed that his law didn't stop the adults from teaching their children to hate him.

During Naruto's short life, the Sandaime had to change him out of orphanages three times already because of neglect and abuse. He was smaller than his peers, a sign of malnutrition, and his dream of becoming Hokage was simply a sign of how much he wanted to be acknowledged.

Now looking at the two children chatting happily beside him, Hiruzen couldn't help but smile. This friendship between both his grandsons, surrogate and real, is going to shape them into great ninja one day. And by how contagious their happiness seemed to be, it wouldn't take long before they started making other friends.

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"Ryudo, I'm bored" Naruto complained as they walked the streets of the market place. His whining voice garnered some glares from some of the nearby shopkeepers, but Ryudo glared right back at them while Naruto just ignored them. The looks he received didn't seem to affect him when he was with his friend. Knowing he had his back made all the difference.

Lessening his glare, Ryudo turned it to Naruto "And what do you want me to do about it?" he replied as he continued to look at the stalls trying to find something interesting.

Their latest pranks against the Hokage had backfired and they were both forbidden to step foot on the tower for the rest of the day. They had learned that messing with the Hokage's paperwork was, indeed, _not_ funny. Ryudo had never seen gramps so mad before in neither of his lives.

And now they wandered aimlessly looking for stuff to do. Normally in this situation, Ryudo would simply pick up a ball and start practicing his football (read soccer) skills. But since football didn't really exist this time around, he was fresh out of ideas, except for one thing, maybe.

"Let's go play in the park. We can practice a bit of tree climbing while we're at it" he suggested.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto cheered "You're on! I bet I can climb higher than you this time" he challenged his friend.

"You wish" Ryudo scoffed as he playfully pushed Naruto, making him stumble a bit. Using that little advantage, Ryudo started running towards the park "I'll race you there!" he yelled back at his friend

"Hey! No fair, dattebayo!" Naruto raged as he started running after him. It didn't take long until he was almost at Ryudo's heels "You're a cheater, Ryudo" he complained.

"There is nothing fair in the world of shinobi" was Ryudo's smug, but wise, response.

They ran and ran for quite a few minutes until they finally reached the park with Ryudo winning by a very small margin. Had he not cheated, Naruto would've won for sure. And the boy made sure to drill that onto his best friend's head.

"I would've totally won-ttebayo"

"Yeah, you would've. But you didn't because I was smarter than you. Trickery and deception are some of the greatest ninja tools"

"Trickery and de-what?" Naruto tilted his head in confusion.

"Deception, knuckle head" Ryudo laughed when Naruto pouted at the nickname "It means lies, illusions and cheating" he explained "I know it's not something you should do to friends, but this was to teach you a lesson, Naruto. You should expect that from people from now on. Especially from shinobi, alright?"

"Hai, hai, Ryudo-sensei" Naruto replied semi-dismissively. He'd learned since day one that Ryudo was very keen on trying to teach him things about ninja life. Even though he seemingly dismissed those lessons, he only did so to rile up his friend. He actually took them to heart most of the time. Ryudo seemed to know what he was talking about, and Naruto trusted him a lot.

"Why yo-" Ryudo's anger started to flare only for him to stop when he heard some roaring laughter coming from the playground. Not liking the cruel undertone in it he signaled for Naruto to stay quiet as they approached, hidden by some bushes.

Peaking over those bushes the two boys stumbled over a very familiar scene. In fact it was a scene very reminiscent to the one that brought them together in the first place.

A very small raven haired girl in a fine pink kimono was crouching over what seemed to be a destroyed sand castle. Surrounding her was a group of three slightly older boys smirking down on her with a quasi-sadistic gleam on their eyes.

"P-please stop" the meek girl all but whispered to her tormentors

"W-what a-a-a-re you t-t-talking about?" one of them mocked loudly "Speak up more clearly, I can't hear you."

His little tirade was rewarded by a flinch coming from the girl and another roaring laughter coming from his companions.

Ryudo could feel something bubbling inside him and when he looked to the side he could see that Naruto shared a similar sentiment, but was a bit hesitant to take action.

Putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder and giving him a tight nod, Ryudo signaled that he had his back. And then with no further prompting, Naruto rushed out of the bushes and socked the apparent ringleader right in the goddamn kisser. Nice!

Before the other kids could gather their bearings, Naruto spread his arms and stood his ground protectively over the girl he had just saved "Why don't you bastards pick on someone your own size!?" he shouted defiantly at the bullies.

The kid lying on the ground, rubbing assaulted jaw, and the two others were reactionless for a couple of seconds. Then they just started laughing as the one in the front got up.

"Is that supposed to be a joke, shrimp?" the ringleader taunted.

Naruto simply stood his ground and leveled a glare at the boys "Who are you calling a shrimp? At least I'm not a coward that picks on little girls" he shot back.

Meanwhile, said girl was looking at the back of her savior with deep admiration in her eyes.

Hyuga Hinata wished that she was able to stand up for herself just like the boy in front of her had just done, but she lacked the courage to do so. Her father was always telling her that she was weak, and she believed him. How could she protect herself when she was weak like that?

But even so, this boy believed himself strong enough to do so. Even though he was much smaller and outnumbered, he had still stood there protectively in front of her.

Even when the other boys started wailing on him, he didn't falter and responded in kind despite the advantage the other boys held. He even managed to break one of their noses before they got the upper hand.

Hinata sat there horrified when she saw the boy stagger backwards and his opponents got ready to capitalize on his mistake.

But before they could do so, another figure joined the fight, knocking out her savior's attacker.

And with one out of the fight, the battle stood as two against two.

Naruto was the first to continue his assault. He landed a kick on the ringleader's stomach, which caused him to bend over. Taking advantage of that, Naruto followed up with a brutal knee to his face, making the boy fall cold to the ground.

That little maneuver, however, left him wide open for the remaining kid's sweeping kick.

Naruto fell over harshly, landing on the side of his head. Groaning in pain he turned on his back to see his opponent about to kick his face in.

To Naruto's luck, Ryudo decided to use that moment to tackle the remaining boy to the ground, and quickly administered a knockout punch to the older kid's face.

They had won.

Ryudo and Naruto grinned at each other. This surprise tag team strategy was something that Ryudo had suggested before as means of catching their opponents off guard. Instead of showing off all of their cards at once, one of them would wait for the perfect window of opportunity to strike. It was a very basic strategy, but it worked very well in simply playground brawls.

Having already gotten to his feet, Naruto went to help the girl to her feet. In the same way Ryudo had done weeks before, Naruto offered a helping hand alongside a bright smile while asking "Are you ok?"

The girl didn't respond verbally, but with a tight nod. A little hesitantly she grabbed the hand he had offered, a small blush coloring her pale features. Having been pulled up to her feet, she didn't take her eyes off said extremities as she fidgeted around, pressing her forefingers together.

"T-thank you" her voice was just a breath above a whisper, but Naruto heard it. His smile widened and he struck a 'nice guy' pose.

"Not a problem. I'm going to be Hokage one day, so protecting a person in need is nothing-ttebayo" he assured her "Besides, I hate bullies. They shouldn't be picking on you like that" he frowned for a second, but was soon smiling again "My name's Naruto! And this guy's Ryudo" he pointed backwards. Said boy simply waved "What's yours?"

The girl stayed quiet for a while before murmuring something unintelligible.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that" Naruto chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

How embarrassing, Hinata thought. She couldn't steel her nerves for long enough not even to say her name to the nice boys that helped her out. No! She couldn't do that! She couldn't be that rude. Taking a deep breath she managed to raise her head and focus her milky white eyes on the cute boy in front of her.

One look at his face was enough for her to falter again. The boy had a sunny aspect to him, as if the world could be falling on his shoulders and he would still stand up and smile his problems away. Her face became red enough to fill a ripe tomato with envy.

"Come on Naruto, get out of her face." Ryudo decided to intervene before the Hyuga heiress passed out. He knew pretty well how she acted around her crush, one that she may have already developed by today's action alone.

"If you keep popping her personal space bubble, of course she won't be able to reply. You're making her uncomfortable" Ryudo chastised, pulling him some two feet backwards. He then leveled a smile at the blushing shirking violet. "I'm sorry for his troubles. But yeah, he's Naruto and I'm Ryudo, like he said. You're a Hyuga, am I right?" he asked amicably, gesturing at his eyes. Meanwhile Naruto pouted at being told off. Ryudo acted too much like an older brother sometimes. Not that Naruto would know.

Hinata on the other hand felt a bit more comfortable with Naruto not being so close up. She blushed again at the simple memory, but shook it off. She nodded at Ryudo's affirmation "H-hai, I'm from the Hyuga clan. M-my name's Hinata" she managed to speak loud enough for them to hear.

Naruto beamed at her introduction "Nice to meet ya, Hinata-chan! Do you want to come play with us?"

Hinata pressed her fingers together at the offer. She didn't want to be a nuisance "A-ano, I'm not sure if it's a good idea. I don't want to bother you guys more than I have"

"Nonsense" Ryudo clapped her on the shoulder as Naruto did the same "You won't be a bother at all! It's not like we had anything really planned for today, so we can play with you all day." He gave her a brotherly smile, and Hinata found herself returning it with a smaller variant.

"H-hai!" she replied with more confidence than before.

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"Maa maa, what do we have here? Are these your friends, Hinata-chan?" Hyuga Himeko, Hinata's mother, asked her daughter.

Before she could answer, though, Naruto jumped up and down excitedly "Yeah, that's right. We saved Hinata-chan from the mean bullies!" He told proudly. Hinata simply blushed at the comment.

"Is that so?" Himeko asked, patting Naruto on the head "What a brave boy we have here. Thanks for helping my daughter" she said with a kind smile "I supposed that you helped as well?" she turned her head to face Ryudo, who simply smiled and struck a 'nice guy' pose.

"Maa maa, you made some brave friends today, Hinata-chan" Himeko looked kindly at her daughter, who beamed at her, not a trace of the shy girl the boys had to deal with was left.

"Hai! Naruto-kun and Ryudo-nii are very nice. Can I come to play with them again?"

"Of course, Hinata-chan. But now we need to go back to the compound. I'll bring you back to play again tomorrow, alright?"

"Ok!" Hinata replied happily, but was fidgeting again when she turned back at the boys "S-see you tomorrow, Ryudo-nii, N-Naruto-kun" Hinata's face reddened when she looked at the blonde boy. Boy, she already had it pretty damn hard!

Soon the Hyuga matriarch and the Hyuga heiress were gone and Ryudo turned to Naruto "Well, I'm turning in for the day. Want me to take you back home?"

"Nah, I can get there myself. Thanks for offering, though" Naruto waved it off casually.

"What about dinner?"

"I'll eat some instant ramen, so don't worry" Naruto reassured.

"You need to eat real food sometime, or else you're gonna stay a shrimp for life" Ryudo warned.

Naruto simply punched him playfully on the shoulder "Shut up, dumbass. You're just too big"

"Excuses, excuses. I'll catch ya later, then" Ryudo said his goodbyes and rushed back home.

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"Hey, jii-chan, you seem busier than usual. Is anything important going to happen?"

"Nothing you should worry about, Ryu-chan. I'm just preparing things for when the Kumo ambassador arrives"

"Kumo ambassador?" Something in Ryudo's mind made a red flag rise at that mention.

"Yes, Kumogakure is sending an ambassador to discuss and maybe sign a peace treaty. Things are looking promising." Hiruzen smiled optimistically at his grandson.

Ryudo wasn't able to return the smile because of one thing going through his mind:

_Oh shit, Hizashi!_

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**Author's notes:**_It must be pretty clear where I'm going from here. The academy arc starts right after the next chapter alongside a timeskip._

_The pairings are going to start showing up only after they become Genin, and not all of them are set in stone._

_So don't worry about me getting hasty in chosing a pairing for Ryudo. I still apreciate suggestions, and even more when you explain them._

_Any other suggestions for this story are welcomed with open arms. This story is very flexible in many ways. I already have a direction for it, but the way it plays out is not at all set in stone._

_So keep your reviews comming! Contructive criticism is apreciated._

_As you all noticed, I'm updating this pretty fast for now, and I'll try to keep it up._

_But if I start lagging a bit behind, then it's because I'll probably be studying._

_See you all soon!_


	5. Chapter 4: Rage

Just as it had been promised, Hinata's mother brought her to the park the next day, much to Naruto's joy. Ryudo was happy as well, but he wasn't able to show it much because of another feeling he currently had for the girl.

Worry.

_"__How the hell can I stop her from being kidnapped?" _he mused, his brows tightly knit as Naruto promptly talked her ears out. She didn't seem to mind, even smiling and even occasionally saying a word or two in response.

Ryudo was surprised that she was able to sit so close to Naruto at this point in time. Sure, she had a very permanent tint on her face when he was close to her, his heroics from the day before made her crush on him instantly.

But still, she wasn't half as shy as he expected. She was indeed very shy, but it didn't seem crippling like it was before… or would be after.

Ryudo reminded himself that Hinata's mother was still pretty much alive, and the woman was one of the only persons from her clan to not call Hinata weak for her kind personality. She actually seemed to encourage it. She really helped with Hinata's confidence.

Confidence that Hiashi was sure to destroy if left alone to raise the child…

Ok, so now he had to make sure two things happened in relation to the Hyuga clan: Make sure that Hizashi doesn't die in consequence of the Kumo kidnapping, and secure Lady Himeko's survival after Hanabi's birth.

Ryudo sighed at how much work he had to do. He was just a kid, dammit! Fuck the fact that he should be mentally an adult, the last years didn't count, nor will the following ones! Yeah, he'll only resume aging after he reaches seventeen again. Until then he's just a kid!

…A kid with a whole lot of weight on his shoulders.

Well, Ryudo didn't need to worry about Lady Himeko for a while. Hanabi would only be coming to the world more than one year after Konohamaru, so he had time.

Hell, maybe she won't even get sick because of some weird butterfly effect that he caused!

Ryudo knew it was wishful thinking, but maybe he'd be lucky. The fact that he got a second life had been pretty lucky, even if he basically jumped from Animal Crossing to Dark Souls, so maybe he'd get lucky again.

That still left the problem that the Kumo ambassador would provide. How the hell would he be able to avoid that! He didn't even know which day he was going to make his move!

A punch to his head snapped Ryudo out of his introspection.

He looked up to fix a glare on his assailant only to find Naruto grinning down on him and Hinata utterly baffled by the sudden violence.

"What the hell was that for, knucklehead?" Ryudo jumped to his feet and grabbed the grinning idiot by the collar.

Naruto's grin fell as he grabbed Ryudo's collar as well "I was talking to you, you idiot, but you weren't answering-ttebayo. So I gave you a lesson for being so rude!" He shouted to Ryudo's face.

The darker skinned boy simply sighed at that and let go of his friend's shirt "Sorry about that, Naruto, I was just thinking about some things."

Naruto let go of his friend's shirt as well and looked at him slightly confused "What were you thinking about?"

"Just some silly things. Nothing for you to worry about" Ryudo answered with a wide, but fake, smile "Now just what the hell you wanted to tell so much that you thought it was a good idea to hit me" He shoved the younger boy away with an irritated tone to his voice.

Naruto just rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "Well Hinata-chan was just inviting us to come to her birthday celebration at the end of the week. So when you didn't answer, I got mad!" he huffed.

Ryudo gave Hinata a questioning look and she blushed a bit before nodding. Ryudo had to resist the urge to coo and pet her for being so cute. She was just like a cute, shy little bunny…

Ryudo walked up to her and patted her head with a smile. Yeah, there was no way he was resisting that. She blushed a bit more, but that just made him smile wider "We'd love to come to your party. Right, Naruto?"

"You got that right, dattebayo!" Naruto grabbed her hand in excitement. This was the first time in his life that he was invited for something like that.

Hinata, in turn, looked like she was about to pass out. Noticing that, Ryudo stopped petting her and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto noticed the gesture and stopped holding Hinata's hand to look at him, but Ryudo was still looking at the girl.

"But say, Hinata, are you really fine in having us at your party like that? I mean, we just met yesterday" he asked, knowing well that Hiashi might not be satisfied with that.

"It's fine" she looked at them with a small smile "Kaa-chan said she's ok with it, so it's fine" her voice, despite being soft, left no room for argument in that matter. It seemed that Hinata really looked up to her mother's word.

And how could Lady Hyuga forbid her daughter from inviting her saviors, and now only friends, to her own birthday party? Not even Hiashi had a chance of making his wife back down. The love he had for the woman was only equal to the fear he had of her.

Something about the party tickled a place behind Ryudo's skull. An important detail he was forgetting about, but he wasn't coming up with what it was. The boy shrugged mentally, deciding to just sleep on it. He'd probably figure it out before it was the day of the party.

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"Hey, jii-chan"

"Yes, Ryudo?" The Sandaime turned away from his paperwork to look at his grandson who was sitting on his table, cross-legged, to his side.

"When is that Head Ninja from Kumo coming to sign the treaty between our villages?" Ryudo asked. A day had already passed, and he was starting to get an idea of how everything fit on the big picture of things.

Hiruzen, oblivious to Ryudo's current thoughts, smiled at the cute toddler to his side "Well, his arrival is marked for the end of the week. This treaty is important, so we're going to hold a small parade to celebrate it"

Bingo. That made everything click. With the parade and everyone celebrating, the village's security levels will plummet slightly.

Sure, his grandfather will probably assign more chunnin for guard duty, but peace celebrations make people lower their guards even with Kumo nin inside the walls.

And speaking of celebrations…

"Is that so? Well, Hinata-chan invited me and Naruto to her birthday party in the same day. It's going to be at the Hyuga compound, in the main house. We were going to sleep over there after everything was finished. Can I go?"

Yes, this was perfect opportunity for the Head Ninja. With the whole village celebrating, and with the Hyuga compound preoccupied with Hinata's birthday, she was probably going to be kidnapped on that day.

And the Head Ninja would be killed by Hiashi.

And Hizashi would die as a consequence…

Yeah, this sleepover is going to save a life!

"A sleepover?" Hiruzen eyed Ryudo with a questioning look "At the Hyuga compound?"

… Yeah, if only his granddad would let him.

He had already talked with Hinata this morning, and she would ask her mom. Knowing Lady Himeko, she'd probably say yes without blinking. Rare were the occasions in which the quiet Hinata actually asked for something, and there was nothing Hiashi could do to stop Lady Himeko from having her way! Yamato Nadeshikos could be very scary when they wanted to.

"Yeah, Hinata-chan said it was ok. Come on, jiji, it's going to be my first sleepover!" Ryudo pleaded with his best puppy dog eyes. He could pull it better than any Inuzuka child, so he was very confident in them.

"…Fine" and after a moment of hesitation, the mighty Hokage had given in to the wishes of a mere child! Being related to powerful people could be very satisfactory.

"Thanks, jii-chan, you're the best!" Ryudo cheered and jumped at his grandfather, giving him a hug. After that he jumped off of the old man and rushed out of the Hokage's Office, already planning out his action plan to deal with the pesky Kumo ninja without killing him.

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"Ok, kids, do you remember what I taught you?" Asuma smiled down at the two spiky haired children in front of him as he ruffled both of their hairs

"Hai, Asu-nii" the responded in unison, and Ryudo continued "We have to bow respectfully to all that we greet, we have to address everyone with the proper honorifics, we should have good table manners, and we cannot speak too loudly" Ryudo said the last part sending Naruto a sly look, only to have the boy huff and pout."

"That's right, you guys. This is the Hyuga clan we're talking about, so be prepared to deal with people with five-foot sticks shoved up their asses. Act respectfully and you shall be fine" The eighteen year-old looked at the two boys with a smile as he gave them both their sleepover kits.

Ryudo's kit, for some reason, had a suspicious looking sealing scroll inside of it, but Asuma had decided not to ask, knowing that his nephew and his friend had a knack for pranking. Doing so inside the Hyuga residence could only spell trouble, but kids had to learn sometime. The punishment may scar them, but it was for the greater good.

Naruto looked confused at Asuma's inappropriate comment, but Ryudo fixed a glare at his uncle "You know, you shouldn't be using this type of language around kids our age. You don't want me to go tell Kure-chan that you're being crude in our presence, do you?"

"I apologize profusely" Asuma did a ninety degree bow and both the kids laughed.

Asuma looked a bit ticked at them making fun of him, but didn't really seem that mad "Alright, alright, now go along you damn brats. I'll come pick you up tomorrow morning" he gave them a pat on their backs before walking away "See ya" he waved at them and shunshinned away.

After that Naruto and Ryudo simply walked past the compound gates where they were met with a member of the branch family. After introducing themselves respectfully (something that was hammered into Naruto's head in the past couple of days), the branch member took them to the main house.

"Introducing Hinata-sama's friends, Uzumaki Naruto and Sarutobi Ryudo" the branch member announced as they arrived at the dining area.

Hiashi, as expected, was seated on a tatami mat at the head of the table, facing directly at the door. At his right side was Lady Himeko, looking stunningly kind as always, and right beside her was Hinata.

Hiashi looked at the boys as if he was sizing them up, which sounded ridiculous since they were only three, but somehow didn't seem unlikely. Lady Himeko was smiling kindly at them, as if inviting them to take the two free seats in front of her. Hinata, of course, had the same smile of her mother, albeit a lot smaller due to her shyness. Still, she seemed a lot more confident with her mother at her side.

And Hiashi would almost eagerly destroy that confidence after Lady Himeko's passing. Not to say that he's evil or something like that. Maybe her death would simply damage him more than he thinks and he would dish it out on Hinata. Hopefully this time it won't happen.

There was a small lull in the conversation between the other Hyuga, but it quickly returned when the boys headed to their honor seats beside Hiashi and in front of Hinata and Lady Himeko.

A couple of whispers and looks were directed towards Naruto, but they quickly died out due to a stern look coming from Hiashi.

A better look around garnered the location of Hizashi and a young Neji seated just beside the empty seats the boys were heading for. The air seemed a bit tense between the twins when Ryudo and Naruto sat down after bowing respectfully to the clan head. Ryudo could tell that the reason was the fact that Neji had already been branded with his cursed seal, something Hizashi clearly disapproved.

Ryudo sat next to Hiashi and Naruto sat next to Neji. Despite the boys being glad about being invited to their friend's third birthday, the tension in the air could be cut with a knife.

Until Naruto's stomach let out a mighty roar, that is.

So much for hammering etiquette training down his throat

"Hehe, sorry about that" Naruto apologized, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, a clear habit of his.

Suddenly all the tension between the twins dissipated, with Hiashi looking as stern as ever, and Hizashi cracking a small smile. Neji also smiled in spite of his predicament, and Hinata and Lady Himeko giggled lightly at the situation.

Food soon came, and despite it not being ramen, Naruto dug right in. Ryudo had to nudge him several times for him to slow down, but in the end he didn't seem like _that much_ of a pig.

"So, you two were the boys that saved my daughter from the bullies that were constantly troubling her?" Hiashi spoke to the boys after they were done eating. They both nodded in unison "I see. I thank you for taking care of my daughter. She is too weak to take care of herself, so your help was very welcome"

Hinata flinched a bit at her father's comment, which earned a sickly sweet smile coming from Lady Himeko towards the clan head. Hiashi quickly cleared his throat, not wanting to upset his wife further.

Hiashi asked Naruto and Ryudo what they planned on doing for the future, which Naruto replied enthusiastically (but not as loud as it usually was) with his dream of being Hokage, and Ryudo replied with something less extravagant. He simply said he wished to make it to Jonin someday, and that they would start the Academy soon.

The clan head seemed pleased with their replies. And by pleased I mean that his scowl lessened almost imperceptibly.

And so, after everyone was done eating and all the plates were taken away, it came the time for the children to be taken to sleep.

One of the branch family members came to take Naruto, Ryudo, Neji, and Hinata to the room that they'd be sharing for their sleepover tonight, but Lady Himeko insisted to take them there personally.

She was one of the rare main family members that Neji wasn't weary of, if only because of how kind she usually was.

The Hyuga matron took them to a relatively big, but scarcely furnished, room where four futons were laid in the tatami mats. She told them where the bathroom was, so that they could brush their teeth, and gave each of the children a kiss on the forehead before leaving, something that made, Neji, Naruto, and Ryudo blush slightly.

The kids went to go brush their teeth together, though Neji seemed a bit reluctant to hang out with these boys he had never met before. After they were done, the boys waited for Hinata to change into her night wear before going back into the bathroom and doing so themselves.

Back at the room they prepared themselves to go to sleep, each of them slipping inside a futon and wishing each other goodnight…

That is, except Ryudo.

Ryudo was looking inside his 'sleepover kit' duffle bag and found the scroll he was looking for inside. He quickly unsealed its contents when he thought that the others had already gone to sleep and went to work.

There was no guarantee that the Kumo ninja would fall for something like that, but he had to try.

Ryudo placed four intricate seals, which he had bought from a store, in the four corners of the room he was in.

With a combination of three hand seals, Ryudo activated the four seals simultaneously, forming a barrier ninjutsu around the perimeter of the room.

Ryudo could feel the chakra from the barrier buzzing around him, and he felt safe. Maybe everything would go according to plan!

The barrier was designed to paralyze for around thirty seconds anyone that came in contact with it, and then dissipate sounding a type of alarm.

Hopefully someone would come in the meantime and subdue the fake ambassador.

Sadly, that's the part that went wrong…

It had passed around two hours after Ryudo set the barrier, and no sign from the Kumo ninja. Was there a mistake? Would he not come?

Ryudo received the answer in the form of an unknown chakra signature approaching from the outside. It was very faint, as if it was being suppressed very much, but it was there.

Ryudo's breathing stopped.

He watched as the signature lingered there for about a minute, and suddenly he couldn't feel the barrier there anymore. Shit!

The sliding door opened reveling the very smug face of a man that had deceit as his intention since the very beginning.

Ryudo did what any other child would do when faced with that situation.

Ryudo yelled. His yell woke up his friends, but he continued yelling.

His voice stopped abruptly when he felt the Kumo ninja's chakra shift, and then he dodged desperately to the right as he heard a kunai whistling by his ear. Shit! Shitshitshitshitshit!

Hinata was eying the stranger in the room with fearful eyes, while Neji and Naruto had confusion in them.

Only Ryudo knew what was going on, and he was freaking out.

"Well, I didn't want to have to kill off some brats, but there can be no witnesses" the Kumo man spoke sadistically.

In a flash he had knocked out Hinata and had her on his shoulder like a sack of potato.

When Neji rushed the man in response, he was kicked violently on the chest and sent flying at the wall, also knocked out cold.

Only Ryudo and Naruto remained.

"Alright kiddies, this was fun, and all, but please die now so I can get away peacefully, alright? I don't want the whole compound up in my ass during my escape, so let's make this quick, alright?"

Ryudo felt the man's chakra shift again as he went to reach for a kunai, but this time the target wasn't him.

Ryudo didn't even think.

The next thing he notices is a sharp feeling of pain is his stomach, and a very cold sensation of wetness.

He's lying on the ground and there is something pooling around him.

Come on! It had only been three years since his last death! It can't be over this quickly!

The last thing he remembered before blacking out is the familiar sensation caused by a very peculiar chakra. It was a chakra that Ryudo would remember forever because of how different it was. It was hot and suffocating and overwhelming. It was a chakra he could recognize from miles away…

It seems like Naruto didn't quite like the sight of the apparent death of his best friend. He didn't like it one bit…

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**Author's notes:** _Hello everybody, and welcome back! This took a bit longer than I wanted, and I wave to admit that I don't really like this chapter that much. But it's a necessary chapter for this plot, and so it had to be made._

_Don't worry, Ryudo is not dead, obviously._

_After this chapter comes a timeskip to the academy, and the story can progress faster from there._

_Remember guys, for more than I love recieving alerts and favourites, reviews are the tools with which I can make the story even better._

_So please review, send suggestions for the story, suggestions for pairings, praises, criticism, beta offerings, anything is good._

_And so I see you next chapter!_


	6. Chapter 5:Politics, Football and Friends

Ryudo woke up with a grunt. He tried to sit up, but his abdomen flared with pain when he tried to move. He gasped out, opening his eyes in surprise from the sudden sting, and saw an unfamiliar white ceiling above his head.

He was confused for a second until everything came crashing back. Ryudo felt the need to pinch his nose in exasperation. His plan did not go like at all like he expected, but at least he wasn't dead.

He lifted his hospital gown to try to see how bad the damage was. Didn't seem like much, with the bandages only covering the stomach area, and there didn't seem to be any infection going on there since the skin around the gauze seemed healthy enough.

Plus, the pain was sharp but it wasn't hot and continuous. It only hurt when he moved.

He looked to the side and saw an IV tube giving him the necessary nutrition, and nothing more than that. Good, that usually meant there was not a lot wrong with him, though he suspected that he may have received a blood transfusion.

He remembered losing _a lot _of blood before passing out. Thank god the rest of the kids were knocked out. Except…

Ryudo felt another surge of worry come from the back of his mind.

_Naruto…_

After Ryudo saved the blond, the sensor felt something that very much resembled the chakra he had come to associate with Kurama's before he passed out.

Anger and grief seemed to be a hell of an awakening conduit, because that release came some nine years earlier than expected.

And that couldn't be good for the prankster boy.

Ryudo spent the next hour and a half wondering what the hell happened that night.

Naruto probably went berserk, that's a given, but did he kill that fake ambassador from Kumo, or did he just incapacitate him? Because there was no way he was going to let his grandfather give Naruto to Raikage just to appease him in case the blond jinchuriki, indeed, killed the kidnapper.

A might be a cool guy overall, but his political strategies were fucking dirty as hell.

Or did one of the Hyuga guards come in before Naruto had the chance to wail on the guy enough so that it killed him?

Or did one of the Hyuga kill him?

Was that Kumo ninja dead or alive?

Did something happen to Hinata? What about Neji?

There were so many variables to that scenario that Ryudo started to wonder if it would have been better just to have left the things go the way they were supposed to go.

The boy was then snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of the door opening and a nurse stepping inside to check on him.

Seeing that he as awake, the nurse smiled kindly at the small boy.

"Hello there. How are you feeling?" she asked

"As good as I can after being stabbed" the young Sarutobi replied humorously

"Oh my, it really was a nasty wound, but you're all patched up now so don't worry" the nurse continued with a kind tone to her voice. She seemed used to dealing with children, but she seemed glad that Ryudo wasn't the whiny type.

"Oh, I'm not worried, I'm just glad that I woke up. How long has it been?" he asked warily. Perhaps he had missed too much and important people were already dead.

"It has been three days since you were brought in" the nurse told him "The Hokage and your parents have already come visit you, alongside… a blond boy" at the last part the nurse's smile suddenly seemed strained. Ryudo could guess who the blond boy was, and he was relieved that Naruto seemed to be well and alive.

"They wanted to stay more with you today, but your mother had been redirected to the maternity ward. It seems that her worry made her go into labor" the nurse explained, and Ryudo nodded.

It was just like Konohamaru to arrive in the most inappropriate of times.

After that the nurse left, and Ryudo was alone once more.

With nothing more to do, he decided to rest his eyes and found himself asleep after not much time later.

When he the young Sarutobi found himself awake again, it was already night time.

"Glad to see you awake, Ryu-chan. The nurse had told me you had woken up, but when I came to check, you were sleeping again" a wizened voice spoke from his bedside.

Looking at the direction of the voice he found his grandfather there smiling down at him like he usually did. Ryudo tried to find any trace of sadness or deceit in that smile, but found nothing.

Good. That was a good sign.

"Well, I'm in need of some rest old man. It's not every day that you take a kunai for your best friend" Ryudo flashed him a victory sign "Speaking of which, how's Naruto? And Hinata? And Neji?" he asked in a rapid fire.

"Calm down, Ryu-chan, they're fine. Hinata-chan is currently with her family at the moment, and so is Neji. Their fathers were quite furious at the attempted kidnap and murder of their respective children. I wouldn't be surprised if they had killed that Kumo ambassador personally, but thankfully it didn't come to that."

The Sandaime's voice was calm, but there was steel in it. Earlier he had been steaming mad after learning that his grandson had been almost fatally injured by a man he had shaken the hand of hours prior.

If it depended solely on his will, the man would have already been executed with extreme prejudice after going by the T&I. But that would be unwise. As per the treaty he had signed three days ago: "If a Kumo shinobi's life is taken by a Konoha nin, then the life taken shall be repaid with the blood of the one who stroke death upon him, no matter the circumstances. The same applies if a Kumo nin kills a Konoha shinobi."

Ryudo was alive, and he wasn't a shinobi yet. That left little space for punishment, as executing the bastard without giving them the life of the executioner would be breaking the treaty and risking war, even if they did attempt to kidnap that heiress of the Hyuga clan and take her back to Kumo to learn the secrets of the Byakugan, or maybe even… breeding purposes.

Hiruzen could only shudder internally in disgust. Those animals might have really had that in store for the child once she was mature enough. Kumogakure would stop at nothing in their quest to gain more military power.

So now they had a tortured and broken ambassador on their hands, but nothing they could further do to him except give him back to Kumo.

And that's what Hiruzen planned to do. He wasn't going to risk a war because of personal reasons. He was a way better Hokage than that.

But he wouldn't take this insult to Konoha lightly. The treaty was still operative, but Hiruzen could use that in his favor. He'd give them back their Head ninja, but he'd demand some concessions, as he had the right to.

Nothing that would cripple them too much, as it would form a vendetta that might spark another war in the future if they allied themselves with another village, like Iwa.

But not something too light, as it would make him seem like a weak leader, too afraid to make demands as not to risk hostilities.

As such he would make some demands that would make Konoha more militarily powerful without making Kumo any weaker other than economically speaking.

There was a lull of silence as Ryudo processed what his grandfather said. By what he was implying, the man that tried to kidnap Hinata was still alive. That meant the Hyuga twins were safe and sound from execution.

That left only one thing left to ask.

"How's Naruto, jiji?" Ryudo's voice was a bit apprehensive. Using Kurama's chakra this early could mean very bad things to his best friend.

Noticing the slight anguish in his grandson's voice, Hiruzen made sure to smile in the most comforting manner that he could "Naruto-chan is fine, Ryu-chan. You saved his life"

Ryudo nodded his head and smiled a little. He was proud of what he did and how he did it without thinking again. Not even dying would take out Ryudo's conviction about protecting other human lives. His first kill was probably going to be hard.

But that had not been the point of his question. His smile disappeared and he made a face almost too serious for his childish features.

"That's good to know, but I wasn't talking about that" he paused to let that sink in for his granddad "I remember something, from before passing out because of my blood loss. Naruto seemed angry, angrier that I've ever seen him before. His eyes were red, and he looked feral. But what shocked me the most was the chakra that seemed to be seeping from him."

Another pause was left in the air. Time seemed to have stopped, and Sarutobi Hiruzen could not breathe. He didn't expect Ryudo to remember such things from that night.

Ryudo smirked. It was a wry gesture, but it lessened the tension reasonably "So that's why all those idiot civilians seem to hate Naruto so much" he huffed "I figured that living in a hidden village would make them able to differentiate between a kunai and the scroll it's sealed in".

Hiruzen was speechless for what could be passed as minutes before he finally cracked a smile. Then he laughed. It was almost boisterous in its nature from how hearty it was.

"Ryu-chan, that analogy is great. Sometime I just forget how smart of a kid you are" he managed to say while cleaning a happy tear that was escaping his eye.

"I am a genius after all" Ryudo used the opportunity to brag, to which his grandfather simply nodded. It was the truth after all. "But man, I sure am surprised" he lied "I was going to asked which tailed beast it is, but it's too easy to guess"

Hiruzen simply nodded and schooled his features, becoming serious again "And you're completely fine with that?"

Ryudo's face became serious as well.

"Only fools wouldn't be fine with that. Naruto is Naruto, nothing more, nothing less. How many people know of his outburst?"

"Not many. Most of the Hyuga sensed it, but only Hiashi and Hizashi actually got to see it. When they got to the scene, the kidnapper was down and bleeding and Naruto seemed ferocious. But he promptly passed out from physical exhaustion after that, so no harm was done." The Sandaime felt the need to explain. Ryudo was very mature for his age, and since he already knew about it, there was no harm in telling him that.

Ryudo, on his side, felt very glad that everything went well. He would not forgive himself if he further ruined Naruto's life.

With a smile back on his face, Ryudo began to question "Ne, jii-chan… is it true that I'm a big brother now?"

Then it was Hiruzen's turn to regain his smile "Yes, it is true Ryu-chan. Your younger brother was delivered this morning while you were sleeping. You should go meet him when you recover. I know Nishi is exhilarated at being a father once more" he chuckled.

"Awesome! I can't wait to do it. What's my lil' bro's name?" Ryudo asked, hoping that his parents didn't make a stupid choice this time. Maybe Konohamaru would get a cool name, like Ryudo did. I mean, what's cooler than "way of the dragon"?

"Your dad decided to name him Konohamaru in honor of our village"

Aaaand there goes poor Konohamaru's chance at being cool. Poor kid.

After that Hiruzen and his grandson talked a bit more about more trivial things until the visiting hours came to an end. Even the Hokage had to obey hospital rules.

"It's great to know that you're all better Ryu-chan" Hiruzen said with fondness in his voice as he left "I hope to see you in my office again soon enough"

Now that the Sandaime had fulfilled his duty was a good grandfather, he had to go fulfill his duty as a Hokage and find a way to let Kumogakure know to never mess with his village ever again.

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A sighed as he looked the document over and over again until he became irritated enough to growl. The Sandaime Hokage had him right where he wanted, and there was nothing he could do about it, except maybe declare H, one of his Head Ninja, rouge and leave him for dead.

But that would give free range for the Konoha-nin to do anything to him with no risk of angering Kumo. And that would eventually lead to a breach of information since H knew a lot of valuable stuff.

Worse part was that Sarutobi's demands were reasonable considering that H had infiltrated the compound of one of Konoha's most prestigious clans and attempted to kidnap their heiress right under their noses.

Apparently H had also put Sarutobi's grandson at risk during that attempt, which seemed to worsen everything.

And so the Hokage demanded five hundred million ryou in reparations for the offence. Added to that was another demand which made A especially apprehensive. The Hokage, in his letter, demanded that Kumogakure's signature combat style of nintaijutsu be shared with Konoha in an act of good will.

A wished that he could be able to claim this was an absurd demand, and simply refuse the offer without suffering consequences.

But the request was not unreasonable. Despite being almost exclusive to the Land of Lightning, nintaijutsu was neither a hidden or forbidden technique.

And since he had just tried to steal one of Konoha's most treasured kekkei genkai, demanding nintaijutsu as means of making amends was almost nothing.

Almost.

This would mean losing its exclusivity, and while it didn't make Kumogakure much weaker, it made the enemy stronger.

But technically Konoha was no longer the enemy.

A slammed the document on the table and went to take out his frustration on the punching bag inside his office and blew the thing off its hinges and through a wall

"Darui" A looked at his bored-looking assistant and right-hand-man after finally blowing off some steam "I want you to send word for an envoy to be brought together. In it I need five hundred million ryou and dozens of scrolls about nintaijutsu techniques up to the B-rank"

"May I ask why, Raikage-sama" Darui asked dully.

"I just got a letter from the Hokage of Konohagakure. It seems that H failed his mission. We need to send in reparations in exchange for his life and the good of the treaty".

While the treaty might have been a pretext for H's true mission, it was still an important document to be upheld. Especially since everything has gone downhill.

"Got it" Darui nodded as he started going out of the room "Oi, C, come here and help me with something" he called out as soon as he exited the room.

The Raikage sighed again. Even though it was through a simple concession, Konoha had demonstrated that it is not to be trifled with.

Perhaps he should set his eyes on another target to look for other kekkei genkai. Perhaps the Land of Water was a good place to look…

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_2 1/2 years later_

"Naruto, come help me out here, ya bastard! Do you expect me to be able to carry these goalposts all by myself?" Ryudo yelled in anger as he tried to hold up the large, white, metal construction by himself "I'm getting all tangled in these nets"

"Yeah, yeah, hold your freaking horses-ttebayo. I'm coming." Naruto yelled at his best friend and then turned back to his other best friend "I'm sorry, Hinata-chan. Ryu-baka can't do anything without me, so I got to go help him"

"I heard that, you bastard! I'm one step from dropping this and go pummel you if you don't come here immediately!" Ryudo yelled again in exasperation before reverting back to a mild manner of speech "Hey there, Hinata-chan. You should go check on Hanabi-chan while we're working on this. We'll go play with you later. Right, _Naruto?"_

Hinata simply giggled at their antics before starting to walk away "It's alright Ryu-nii. I'll see you later, Naruto-kun" she said, waving a goodbye. Her shyness had improved spectacularly in the two years after she met the boys. Now she rarely stuttered while talking to them and actually looked them in the eye when speaking. Sure she was still a wreck around strangers, but it was an improvement.

"Bye, Hinata-chan!" Naruto waved in response and finally went to help with the heavy lifting. Even though they were still five years old, their strength was already comparable to a civilian adult each.

After finally settling down the goalpost on the opposite side of the field they were in, the boys looked at their handiwork. The field was a large plain place with a green grass all around. Opposite to where they were now stood another goalpost identical to the one they had just moved, and completely parallel to it.

"So, what now?" Naruto asked his friend.

Ryudo had told him that he had come up with an idea for a good game that might help them in the shinobi training they were about to start in the following month.

It was a team based game, so even though playing by the two of them as possible, it was not ideal. Ryudo had said that it was a good incentive for them to make more friends at the Academy, and invite them to play.

Ryudo had gotten permission from the Hokage to use the area of the park where they stood at the moment, for his little project. Since it was unused, it was ok. And to ensure that they were not making any trouble he said that he would be sending one of his most trusted Anbu, currently on leave, to check on them later.

"Well, now we have to define the field" he told Naruto "Normally this would take a lot of time, but I came prepared" he said, taking out one of his scrolls out of his pouch.

He walked to what would be the center of the field and opened the scroll, a curious Naruto following him from behind.

Ryudo sat down and concentrated, his hands forming a tiger seal "Release!"

At his unsealing command a large amount of smoke appeared all over the field, making Naruto cough his lungs out "Dammit, Ryudo, tone it down a little, dattebayo"

Also coughing, Ryudo agreed with Naruto's opinion, but there was nothing he could do about it. He used a bit more chakra than he needed to. Despite being as chakra sensitive as he was, Ryudo could rarely tell what the right amount of chakra he had to use was, or at least not without trial and error.

But regardless of Ryudo's issues with using too much chakra on a simple unsealing, the smoke cleared in about a minute, and under their feet, and all around them, was a very nicely drawn football (soccer) court.

"Alright!" Ryudo cheered at his success. Oh how he missed playing football. The sport had been one of his greatest pleasures back in his old life, and it had always been great to play it. Now he would be able to do it again, but with a special… shinobi touch. He couldn't wait until the Academy finally started.

"I still don't know the purpose of this, but I can't help but get excited-ttebayo" Naruto cheered, looking from one goalpost to another and then at the layout of the field.

"I don't know what this is for either, but this seems to be quite a nice handiwork for kids your age" a voice came from between some of the nearby trees.

There stood what seemed to be a dark haired ten year-old boy carrying another younger dark haired boy on his shoulders. The other boy had a face very similar to the older boy, but lacking the characteristic expression marks just under the older boy's eyes.

Two things became instantly noticeable. Those two were brothers, and those two were Uchiha.

The older boy had a kind smile on his face and his hair framed it with bangs. The rest of it was tied in a ponytail that reached his upper back.

The younger boy had a curious expression on his face, the same bangs framing the same thing. But his hair was not as long as his older brother's and was styled upwards instead. If you were being honest, it totally resembled a duck's butt.

Ryudo was looking at Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha.

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Apparently the trusted Anbu that the Sandaime had sent to check on Naruto and Ryudo was no other than the genius Uchiha Itachi.

And since he was technically not on duty at the moment, he had forsaken his mask and decided to take his little brother with him. He had heard from the Hokage that the 'mission' was to simply check on his grandson and his best friend to see if they were doing what they had told the old man, or if they were up to no good.

And because of that he decided to take his younger brother along to see if Sasuke could finally make some friends outside of the clan. The boy had always been too attached to Itachi and never made an effort to interact with other kids his age.

But now he seemed very excited at the simple football court that extended over the field they were standing at, and Itachi had to admit that he was curious too.

And so Ryudo explained to the Uchiha brothers and Naruto as well, all the rules about football that they'd need to know, including some of the twists that he added.

"… and while it's illegal to intentionally take down a player of the opposing team by force, ninjutsu up to the D-rank are totally expectable during the game" Ryudo explained

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, totally engrossed in Ryudo's explanation. The game seemed fun!

"Well, you can't use it to affect your opponents directly, but you can use it as part of a strategy. Like using the Kawarimi to change places with a teammate as part of a play, or even doing it with the ball, or perhaps erecting a small earth wall to block the path directly in front of the opponent so that he'd have to look for other alternatives. Things like that would make the game even more exciting and would emphasize both on teamwork and individual skill" Ryudo finished his explanation with a proud smile. He really put a lot of thought in these little tweaks.

"Well, I'm sold!" Naruto declared in excitement "This game sounds cool"

"You can count me in as well." Sasuke declared with pride "I'll become one of the best players"

"Nu-uh, I'll be the best football player in the village" Naruto leveled a competitive glare at Sasuke.

"There's no way you're going to be better than me, dobe" Sasuke returned that glare and raised his voice.

"Oi, you don't know anything, teme!" Naruto retorted and soon they were butting foreheads.

Ryudo simply laughed at all this. Their rivalry came from a much unexpected place this time. And very quick too, considering they met not half an hour ago.

And Ryudo, as any good friend, simply egged them on against each other by making comments and assumptions about their possible skills on the field.

But despite all the fake animosity, all three kids were smiling. A new addition had been made to Naruto's ever growing list of precious people. A rival figure like Sasuke was essential for both boys' growth.

Meanwhile Itachi simply watched on with a smile seeing his precious little brother so happy like now.

He swore to himself at that moment that he'd always do everything in his power to make sure that Sasuke never stops smiling like he was now.

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**Author's note:** _fear not, I won't make this into a sports focused story all of a sudden. I just thought it would be a nice little personal Brazilian touch._

_Shinobi Football has always been an idea that made me laugh. It seems like a very fun concept and I'm going to use it a bit in their Academy years, as it's a good bonding mechanism, even for the girls._

_And from here on starts Ryudo and the Rookie 9's formal ninja training. It's going to be a fun ride._

_I'm going to start a little poll here. Do you want this to be a Massacre fic, or a non-Massacre fic, because I can make it work both ways._

_The poll will be on my profile for a while. I might put out 3-4 chapters out before it closes. After that the poll will close in 3 days._

_And don't forget to review. Call my story gold or call it trash, just tell me why you think that so I can always improve it. _

_This story is both for me and for you guys, so feel free to give some suggestions if you want. That counts for pairings as well._

_I've only decided on: AsuKure, NaruHina, NejiTen and KakaAnko, so others are up for discussion._

_Now this is it for this chapter! See you on the next one!_


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